Estonia has awarded a tender to develop remote biometrics capturing technology for its popular e-Residency program to identity technology company X Infotech. The technology will enable the country to collect facial images and fingerprints from e-Residency applicants through a smartphone, starting in 2027.
Estonia’s e-Residency program allows foreign nationals access to services such as company formation, banking, payment processing and taxation by and completing pre-screening, which involves filling out an online form and supplying a scan of their passport and photograph.
Currently, applicants still need to visit an Estonian embassy or Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) office to submit their biometrics and receive a digital ID smart card. That may soon change to a fully remote process.
“This means that e-residents no longer have to go to the Estonian embassy to have their biometrics taken. If everything works, we can expand this solution to other applicants for identity documents in the future,” says Anita Preinvalts, Senior Commissioner of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) Identity and Status Bureau.
Latvia-based X Infotech will be tasked with developing an app that can both capture biometrics and check the authenticity of submitted documents. The solution will have to meet high security requirements according to the EU’s eIDAS regulation.
The framework agreement is valued up to 3 million euros (US$3.5 million) and will last 48 months.
“This project represents a new generation of biometric solutions, where advanced algorithms and mobile technology will transform the way users can securely verify their identity anywhere in the world,” X Infotech’s Sales Director, Einars Leps, said in a statement.
The tender for the technology was issued by the IT and Development Centre at the Estonian Ministry of the Interior (SMIT) in 2024. A total of 12 companies answered the call.
According to the agency, the supplier was identified through a competitive dialogue process, which tested and evaluated possible solutions before making a decision.
“What makes the procured service unique is that the verification of the authenticity and validity of the document, taking a photo and providing fingerprints must work together in one service,” says Kaija Kirch, head of the Identity Services Department at SMIT. “These components are already used separately in several private sector services, but none of them meet the requirements of the eIDAS regulation.”
Estonia has so far granted e-Residency to more than 134,500 people from 185 countries. The country says that the total economic impact of the program has been 400 million euros ($468.9 million) to date. Introducing a fully remote process will further increase the economic importance of the program, according to Liina Vahtras, head of the e-Residency program and a member of the board of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Foundation.
“We predict that the launch of the card-free solution will increase the activity of e-residents in creating Estonian companies by at least 20 percent, which means 3-9 million euros ($3.5-10.5 million) in additional tax revenue for the state per year,” says Vahtras.
Article Topics
biometrics | Estonia | face biometrics | fingerprint biometrics | onboarding | procurement | remote identity proofing | X Infotech